Not that it's dramatically different from last year, or the one before, for that matter, but nevertheless it must be said that it is hard to find any consistent sense of direction, progress and vision in Namibia right now.

Even though one tries to do so in an attempt to lift one's own spirits and those around us, it is hard to actually identify a sector where there is a high level of professionalism and positive growth.

Everything and everyone seems to be floundering and we really need to find a way out of this stultifying impasse.

HOW, of course, is the big question, and I can't say that I've got the answers.

Neither will we have the solutions of course, unless we try to pinpoint the problems.

But I'm sure this is something felt, if not in equal measure by all citizens, then at least to the point that they think about it sometimes: why are we so directionless? Understanding the problems we face is one way towards solving our stalemate.

Why is the system failing us, or are we failing the system is one way of trying to look at it.

Is the issue one of management, or lack thereof, at virtually all levels? If we take probably one of the most crucial areas of all, education, we need to ask ourselves whether the system as such is so intrinsically bad that we fail to turn out a good supply of high calibre students.

And if the system is successfully implemented in other parts of the world, then is it a question of it being the right system for some but not for us.

But the truth is, generally speaking and with some obvious exceptions, that our school-leavers are not well equipped for either the job market or tertiary education.

So there's a huge problem somewhere, and my question is why, after 16 years of Independence, and with all the analysis, research, experts, conferences held with a view to finding an answer to exactly the question I have posed, we are not getting anywhere? Is this fact, in turn, the root of all our problems? 'People problems' do crop up everywhere, and where else could these originate, but in an education system that is not serving the needs of its people? As I'm writing this, I'm thinking that it could indeed be one of the crucial reasons for our lack of direction: we know what we need to do, we try to do things, but don't do them properly.

Which means that probably we aren't very convinced about the need to do them in the first place.

Take corruption, another crucial problem: it's flavour of the month at the moment.

You'd think nobody out there was even vaguely immoral because just about everyone says it's wrong, but it keeps on happening.

We've got seminars, conferences, legislation, and yes, finally, an Anti-Corruption Commission, but we can't seem to find the resources to give it the necessary clout to make a difference in fighting the scourge.

The combination of a lack of political will and scant resources is negating all efforts to combat it.

And where there is opportunity to act, there's no decisiveness.

So the long and short of it is that I personally wonder whether anyone really cares although everyone is jumping on the anti-graft bandwagon, it seems mostly opportunistic.

Take as another example what I sometimes term the 'AIDS industry'.

With the millions poured into the combating of the HIV pandemic, what has really been achieved? More non-governmental organisations and a certain amount of job creation, yes.

But in statistical terms, very little progress in fighting the good fight.

A definite priority it is in national terms, and yet we're not significantly altering the status quo.

Some could argue a certain measure of success in terms of prolonging life with getting people access to anti-retrovirals, but in terms of the overall awareness campaign to stop the spread of HIV, I'm just not sure we're hitting the mark.

And as for a National Aids Policy - well, we've done the final draft at long last, I guess.

But with the length of time it's taken it might just be out of date once it gets to Parliament! The other aspect is of course trying to do things but not doing them properly.

Take Parliament and the Labour Law for example.

With the number of times it's gone backwards and forwards, can anyone be blamed for being confused? There are other examples as well.

And it doesn't help that our lawmakers tend to rush to push bills through, especially at this time of the year when they want to go into recess.

Perhaps we need to revisit our Constitution to regain some focus.

To remind us of what we wanted as a nation when we fought for Independence so that we can get our direction back.

Perhaps too we need to lose those people who don't help us go forward, who don't manage things as well as they ought to and who are assisting what I perceive to be a downward spiral into chaos and confusion.

Finally, perhaps we should lose the wordy verbiage of things like Vision 2030 and come up with something simple and straightforward like a ten-point plan!

Columns Of The Last 48 Hours

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•  Political Perspective
•  Memory Politics, The Reiterdenkmal And The De-Colonisation Of The Mind
•  Namibia's Dangerous Disconnect Between Politics And Economics
•  From the Sidelines : Shame on Wanderers